By order of the Minister of Culture Nayden Todorov, the director of the Rhodope Drama Theater "Nikolay Haitov" Rumen Bechev was dismissed from office. The Plovdiv District Court refused to reduce the set bail of BGN 50,000 on accusations of embezzlement on a particularly large scale by the director of the theater in Razgrad, Levon Manukyan.
"I think these people are honest. Appointments are not fictitious. All the appointments made by Levon Manukyan, as well as Rumen Bechev, are for a specific purpose. Levon Manukyan was trying to bring back the Philharmonic. All this is exaggerated. It seems to me that this is part of the election campaign. It is no coincidence that it is Razgrad and it is no coincidence that it is Smolyan. This DPS war continues on a cultural level as well".
This was commented by the director Boyko Iliev in the show "The Day ON AIR".
In his words, Rumen Bechev appointed actors so that he could justify himself to the Ministry of Culture and receive a subsidy.
"He is forced to do these tricks, not for him to collect money for himself. The system itself, which is imposed by the Ministry of Culture, gives these possibilities. The Ministry set a subsidized ticket price of BGN 20, no more. If you sell a ticket for BGN 25, you cannot subsidize it. They determined that you can go to the NDK, but you will receive a subsidy not for 4,000, but for 500 seats, as many as you have in the theater. They determined how many outsiders can play - up to 50%," Iliev told Bulgaria ON AIR.
He explained that all the measures were put in place over the years because the budget was drained, but not because someone collected it, but because the directors have to pay the actors.
When asked if there could be an effective mechanism to apply control, Iliev answered that the system is wrong.